McGovern hurt in opening term

VideoThe West Coast swingman went off the ground after copping a knock to the hip.Video: Daniel Wilkins

West Coast coach Adam Simpson has promised they won’t be playing games when it comes to Jeremy McGovern’s hip injury.

The gun defender copped a “big corkie” in Saturday’s 66-point preliminary final win over Melbourne at Optus Stadium and was the only absentee at today’s open training session that attracted about 15,000 fans at Subiaco Oval.

Luke Shuey (ankle) was one of the first players out on the track and appears to be showing no ill effects, while Nathan Vardy and Jamie Cripps were late onto the ground but moved freely during the light session.

“Luke was out there today, so I think he’s fine,” Simpson said. “Gov has just got a hip pointer that he’s just got to manage throughout the week so we’re doing everything we can to get that right. He should be good to go.

“No, not at this point (I don’t expect him to miss). We’ll keep you informed but we won’t be playing any games, that’s for sure. If he’s not right, he’s not right but at the moment I think he’s going to be fine.

“I’d like him to train but he hasn’t trained too much. If he gets to captain’s run he’s done a good job normally so he’s one that we manage a lot. It’s just a corkie, just a big one.”

Simpson also gave a strong indication the Eagles were set to go in unchanged against Collingwood in Saturday’s grand final at the MCG.

“I haven’t had a chance to reflect on that in match committee,” Simpson said. “We’ll sit down and go through all that on Wednesday.

“The team has obviously performed pretty well on the weekend and they are pretty settled so I can’t imagine there will be too many conversations but we need to have them.

“Schoey (Will Schofield) complements our back six, he can play tall or small.”